I've Missed You
by abouteverything
Summary: Carla and Peter arrive back from their break and try to adjust to life back on Coronation Street, and Rob and Michelle have missed them.
1. Chapter 1

Michelle and Rob were both sat with their heads down, scribbling information into files and dates into diaries.

"It's a good job I've got you around you know!" Michelle said without lifting her head.

"Why's that boss?" Rob replied.

"All this paperwork's too much for two, never mind one!"

Rob looked up before smiling:

"Say it", he said, grinning.

"No, not again. You're not making me say it again," Michelle laughed.

"Go on, I'll tell you a secret if you do", Rob tempted her.

Michelle pursed her lips and stared him down.

"Okay, fine, but I'm saying it quickly and never again..."

"Go on..."

"Thank you for staying back to help me out and I love you loads and I much prefer you to Carla and..."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

Michelle spun around to face the door, the blinds were down so she couldn't see who it was but, no, it couldn't be...

She jumped out of her seat and forced the office door open... It was.

"Carla!" She screamed, running and leaping on her.

Carla was laughing, she wrapped her arms around Michelle so tightly that she thought she must be hurting her.

Michelle pulled away, still jumping about with her hands on Carla's shoulders.

"When did you? Why didn't you te-? Where have you...?" She didn't know what to ask first.

Rob was stood behind Michelle laughing.

"You knew she was coming back?!" She turned to Rob and slapped him on the arm, laughing.

"This was the secret! I was about to tell you! Anyway if I had done then we would have all missed out on that reaction, wouldn't we?" Rob replied, jokingly rubbing his arm better.

"Hey, hey" Carla replied, walking over to Rob and giving him a hug, before pulling Michelle in to join them, "you two are acting like brother and sister, that's our job isn't it mate?"

At that moment Carla moved her arm and pulled Rob into a headlock.

"Why did you not tell Michelle, you idiot?!" Carla said through a smile.

"That reaction was priceless Carla! Come on, I'm sorry okay, let go" Rob exclaimed, trying and failing to loosen his big sister's grip on him.

Michelle was laughing hard. Carla let go and made her way into the office with her friend following.

"That, is embarrassing." Michelle muttered to Carla as they walked away, leaving Rob on his knees, adjusting his creased shirt collar.

"So, how have you been?" Carla asked as she dropped into her old office chair, leaving Michelle to take a place at Rob's desk.

"Same old. Well, Ryan moved back and we've had plenty of trouble with him, but I'll catch you up on that when I know more myself. Where have you even been Carla?"

Carla decided not to press her friend on the mention of Ryan, noting how her head dropped when she talked about him. She clearly didn't want to go into that.

"Well we spent the last couple of months back in L.A. actually. Ended up there after one of Peter's mates said he was going."

"How is Peter?" Michelle finally asked after hearing Carla bring him up.

"He's much better, he's great. He's back to his old self, and he's going to stay that way." Carla smiled: "thank you for asking."

A few seconds went by.

"God I've missed you." Carla broke the silence. "You don't even know how much."

"Oh believe me, I do." Michelle responded, thinking about everything that had happened in the months that Carla had been gone, how much she'd needed her.

Carla studied her friend for a while, watching as she fiddled with a pen in her hands.

"Rovers?" She asked.

"I thought you'd never ask," Michelle said, looking up and grabbing her bag.

Carla put her arm around her as they left the office, finding Rob sat a machine giving them some peace.

"Come on Robbie, Rovers!" Carla said, holding out her hand. He smiled as he took her hand and kissed her gently on the knuckle.

"It's good to have you back." He said, standing up and wrapping his arm around her.


	2. Chapter 2

As the three of them entered the Rovers, there were a few smiles and greetings as people saw Carla back in Weatherfield. There were also a few eye rolls and dirty looks, but that didn't bother any of them.

They bought their drinks and sat at a table, before Carla got her phone out and sent Peter a text: 'In the Rovers. Come! x'

"So what's new around here? Any gossip?" Carla muttered, looking around the pub.

"We'll fill you in later, we want to hear about you!" Rob replied, excited.

"Well, okay. When we left we headed straight for the Caribbean, stayed there for a few weeks, ended up back in L.A., we've just been treating it like a holiday, doing the usual, getting ourselves sorted out."

"And you and Peter are okay yeah?" Michelle checked.

Before Carla could answer Peter's head popped around the stall.

"We're brilliant." He said, sitting down next to Carla and kissing her on the cheek, making her break into a smile.

Rob wanted so badly to be able to get on with Peter, but he couldn't see it happening any time soon. He hadn't had the chance to see Peter at his best, and he still didn't think he was right for Carla.

He gave a polite nod and smile in his direction, and Peter did the same. Carla and Michelle watched them awkwardly before Michelle leaned across the table, kissing Peter on the cheek. There was small talk for a couple of minutes before the tension between Rob and Peter was too awkward, and Peter got up to get a drink.

After he had got himself an orange juice, he found himself catching up with Steve and Dev at the bar.

A couple of drinks later and Carla kept finding herself zoning out of the conversation. She was tired; she hadn't had the chance to adjust to being back here yet. She thought back to 3 days ago, remembering her and Peter walking in the sun. Just the two of them, without a care in the world. The more she thought about L.A. the more she started to question why they had decided to come back. She looked across the room to Peter; his face lit up and he gave her a wink.

Rob and Michelle began to bicker between themselves when Carla interrupted, grabbing her coat:

"I think I'm gonna get off now, I'm knackered."

"Oh, are you su-" Michelle started.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow morning yeah?" She said, kissing her on the cheek and ruffling Rob's hair before turning away, leaving Rob and Michelle wondering what had happened.

She walked straight over to Peter and ran her hand up his back until it rested on his shoulder.

"Can we go home?" She said quietly.

Peter looked down at her leaning on his shoulder and smiled. He didn't need to respond.

"Mate I'm off home, it was good to catch up," he said, turning back to face Steve.

"You too! I'll see you tomorrow then yeah?" Steve responded.

"Yeah, see you then!" Peter called over his shoulder, already heading for the exit with his arm around Carla's waist.

They stepped outside into the dark and felt the cold hit them suddenly. Peter pulled Carla closer in to keep her warm as they walked slowly down the street.

"What's happening with Steve tomorrow then?" Carla asked.

Peter thought for a minute before realising:

"Do you know what, I have no idea..."

"How can you not know?!"

"I wasn't listening was I? I was missing you! God knows what I've agreed to."

Carla laughed as she wrapped her jacket tighter around her.

"I wasn't missing you." Carla teased.

"You wouldn't have ran over after two drinks if you weren't missing me... I was only a few metres from you and you looked lost!" Peter said, squeezing her hip where his hand was resting.

"Okay, so what if I did miss you? Do you know what I haven't missed though? This weather."

Peter stopped walking, turned to face Carla and put his arms around her waist, pulling her in close. She brought her arms up and rested her hands on his shoulders. The lights from the houses on Coronation Street dimly lit up their faces.

"Hey," he pouted, "there was no need for me to keep you warm when we were lay in the sun," he leaned in closer, "now there is." He kissed her once, softly, before pulling his head away.

Carla stuck out her bottom lip, sulking.

"Not necessarily. I can buy a bloody good winter coat now we're back in sunny Manchester." She responded.

"Hey!"

"I promise not to if you kiss me again."

Peter smiled and leaned in again, kissing her for longer this time. He gently broke away from the kiss, pressing his forehead to hers before moving up and kissing her on the nose. She giggled, crinkling her nose, before they carried on heading home.


	3. Chapter 3

Carla felt herself waking up. She blinked hard as her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of her and Peter's bedroom. Turning over, she felt for her mobile and pressed a button to make it light up: 3:23am.

Rolling back over onto her back, she reached out her arm and felt across the bed, but Peter wasn't there. She saw a small line of light coming through the bedroom door where it hadn't quite been shut properly. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned as she slowly started to get out of bed. She picked up a soft white dressing gown from the end of the bed and wrapped it around her, before walking towards the door.

She opened it quietly, and immediately saw Peter with his back to her, sat on the sofa watching a film. The lights were off, but a lamp close by lit up the room enough. He was wearing a black dressing gown with a mug of coffee on the table next to him. She smiled as she slowly started to creep towards him. She reached out her hands as she approached the sofa, and in one quick move she placed her hands over his eyes.

He jumped, and paused the film he was watching before his arms reached back to grab her arms to try and break free. Carla found herself laughing at his attempts.

"Hey!" He shouted, but he was trying not to laugh. He reached back further to try and tickle her.

"Guess who?" Carla responded, moving her body back to avoid his arms but keeping her hands over his eyes.

"I think... it's..." Peter started through a smile, slowly running his hands up and down her arms and pretending to try and feel for who it was, "it's... is it Hayley?!"

Carla gasped and dropped her hands, moving around the sofa to stand in front of him.

"It's me!" She laughed, moving forward to take a seat next to him before putting her legs over his lap. He put one arm around her shoulder, as he absent-mindedly ran his free hand up and down her bare leg. She leaned into him so that her head rested on his shoulder.

"So it is." He whispered, before kissing her on the forehead.

"What are you doing up baby?" He asked, leaning his head on hers.

"My head's still in another timezone I think," she replied.

"Me too. I was thinking about Si too... This afternoon he just kept bringing up Nick without realising. He must be a really big part of his life now. I'm glad we came back when we did, because I don't think he's forgotten me just yet."

Carla looked up at him and cocked her head.

"He could never forget you Peter. You're his dad, nothing and nobody can change that. Don't worry, okay?"

Peter smiled down at her.

"Okay."

"How was Leanne?" Carla asked carefully. She hadn't dared to ask before now, worried that it might be a sensitive subject. She didn't want to upset Peter.

"She was civilised. I don't think she was too happy with me just showing up, but it wasn't like we had coming home planned for weeks. I did tell her that I wanted to suprise Si and she seemed fine with it, for now anyway. I hope we stay on good terms Carla."

"That's good, so do I," Carla replied, bringing her hand up to rest it on his chest, "...did she mention me?"

"Not really... Maybe she's coming to terms with us. Maybe now she knows I wasn't kidding about loving you so much."

Carla looked up and grinned as he raised an eyebrow.

"That's your cue to tell me how much you adore me," he whispered in her ear.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and reached up to whisper in his ear:

"You already know."

She didn't loosen her grip for a while though. She liked the feel of his stubble on her cheek... How nice it felt just to hug him like this. She liked thinking about how long she'd waited to be with him, how many times she'd thought she'd never be able to wrap her arms around him; them both in their dressing gowns, on the sofa where they both live together, at 3:31 in the morning.

Peter interrupted her thoughts:

"You're squashing me baby," He whispered back. His hot breath on her ear made her get goosebumps down her legs, which didn't go unnoticed by Peter as he continued to run his hand up and down. He smiled as he felt it. He liked that he still had that effect on her after a year of being together. He liked that they had stood by each other through so much during that year, and how they'd somehow ended up on their sofa in their dressing gowns, closer than they ever had been before.

"Sorry," she interrupted his thoughts this time.

"Why? I like it."

Carla started to pull away but as she did, Peter left a trail of kisses from her ear, down her cheek, ending with a soft kiss on her lips.

They pulled away slightly, their noses just millimetres apart, and they stayed that way for a few seconds.

"So what are you watching?" Carla broke the silence, sitting up.

Peter turned to look at the TV and bit his lip before he started to talk.

"You're gonna judge me..."

"Go on..."

"There's no point trying to hide it,"

"There really is no point trying to hide it,"

"Will you fight for the remote if I don't tell you?"

"Yes,"

"Are you feeling strong?"

"You know I'd win,"

"Bridget Jones's Diary."

There was a pause as Carla tried to hide her smile, with Peter looking at her trying to do the same, before they both burst out laughing. Carla used her dressing gown sleeve to cover her face as he grabbed the remote and held out his arm, inviting her to lie back down.

"I wish I could say that I was joking," he shrugged.

"So do I!" Carla replied, taking him up on his offer and resting her head back on his chest facing the TV. Peter lifted his legs to rest his feet on the coffee table.

"Do I press play?" He asked.

"Just do it," Carla laughed.

The TV began to light up the room as the film continued, and neither felt the need to say anything else. They both liked it like this.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He opened his eyes and saw the light blaring through the blinds, finding himself still lay on the sofa. He grabbed his phone just as it stopped ringing, and squinted, rubbing his eyes as he woke himself up quickly.

He saw '4 missed calls', and found himself worrying what it could be. He pressed a button to find that they were all from Steve...

"Oh no," he muttered, remembering the plans that they had made last night.

He sat up and saw Carla lying on the other side of the sofa. He smiled as he saw how peaceful she looked, one hand by her cheek and the other tucked in her dressing gown pocket. He reached out to gently rub her shoulder.

"Carla, darling... come on."

She groaned as her eyes started to open, squinting like Peter had done as a reaction to the light.

"What time is it?" She muttered, closing her eyes again.

Peter looked down at his phone: 13:06pm.

"It's past one!" Peter said, shocked, "Steve's been calling me. What am I gonna say?!"

Carla didn't react to what he'd said straight away, but after a few seconds her eyes shot open and she sat up too.

"Past one?" She looked at him wide-eyed, "I told Michelle I'd be at work today! Oh this is brilliant." She ran a hand through her hair.

"I should go and get ready. Better late than never." She said, standing up and starting to turn away.

"Hey," Peter said, grabbing her wrist and making her turn back to look at him, "good morning." He smiled up at her and she smiled as she leaned down to give him a kiss.

"Good morning," she said, before turning away again. "Call Steve back!" She called over her shoulder as she headed for the bathroom.

.

Carla burst into the factory to find it empty. Presuming everyone was on their dinner, she strutted past the machines and into the office, finding Michelle sat at a computer typing. She looked up from the screen to see her friend looking flustered at the door.

"I'm so sorry Chelle... We fell asleep late and our body clocks are all messed up and I told you I'd be in toda-"

"Carla it-"

"I came as soon as I woke up, I wasn't taking advanta-"

"Carla!" Michelle interrupted loudly, startling her. "It's fine! I wasn't expecting you back this week anyway was I? It makes no difference to me."

"Oh, right..." Carla frowned. She knew that Michelle could handle it or she wouldn't have left her in the first place, but she hadn't put much thought into her being the boss. She'd had no choice but to be the boss. She put her bag down on the desk and watched Michelle as she carried on typing.

"Michelle... I'm sorry."

"Carla I've just said it's fine!" She responded, without looking up.

"No, not for that. I'm sorry for leaving you."

Michelle looked up at Carla and cocked her head to the side.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," she stood up and put her hand on Carla's shoulder, "you needed to go. I know that."

Carla smiled and leaned in, kissing her on the cheek and hugging her.

"I flamin' love you," she whispered.

"Yeah, yeah," Michelle replied, pulling away and winking at her, before going back to her computer.

Carla quietly went to sit on the office chair on the other side of the desk.

"Did you notice?" Michelle broke the silence.

"Notice what?"

"You said _'we'_ fell asleep late," Michelle smiled across the desk, "you said you'd never be a_ 'we' _kind of person."

Carla frowned as she thought back a couple of minutes:

"I did, didn't I?"

"Is that a good thing?" Michelle asked.

"It's a great thing," Carla smiled, looking down and fiddling with a pen.

Michelle liked how Carla's face lit up when she brought Peter up. She liked seeing her happy, and she wanted that to last as long as possible.

"Go and see him," Michelle interrupted Carla's thoughts.

"Do you not want any help?"

"Like I said, I didn't even know you were coming back. I'm on top of everything."

"I can't ju-"

"Go and see him, now!" Michelle pointed to the door and gave Carla a stern look.

Carla stood up and walked to the door, opening it. She looked back at Michelle, saluting with her right hand.

"Yes boss."

.

Carla walked into the Rovers and glanced around the room, before walking up to the bar and putting her bag down.

"Hey Tina, you've not seen Peter have you?"

"I haven't seen him, but Steve came in earlier and he had him in the car outside."

"Oh brilliant, I've been waiting for him for nearly three hours! He's not answering his phone." She said, typing out a text to him.

"Carla," Tina said, making her look up from her phone, "he was taking him to A&E."

Carla paused for a few seconds.

"You what? Why?"

"I don't know, Steve ran in, spoke to Stella and ran back out again. He didn't say much." Tina wanted to be able to reassure her, but didn't know what to say.

"I better go and find him, thanks Tina." She turned and headed for the door.

"Hey, Carla," Tina called after her, making her turn back around, "I'm sure he'll be fine. He wouldn't have been out in the car if it was anything too bad."

"Yeah," Carla nodded, "he'll be fine." She smiled before turning and quickly exiting the pub.

As she walked back out onto the street and started to head for her car, Kevin shouted her name from across the road, before heading towards her.

"Carla! What's happened to your Peter?"

"I wish I knew, I've only just heard about him going to hospital." Carla replied, not stopping walking and making Kevin jog to keep up.

"I saw him sat in Steve's cab. Wasn't looking too clever."

"Why? How did he look?" Carla asked quickly, stopping walking, desperate to know what had happened.

"He had blood down his face, he was holding something over his eye..." Kevin noticed Carla's expression change and quickly realised that he shouldn't have said so much.

"I'm sure it looked much worse than it is. Blood always makes things look worse." Kevin added, trying to comfort her.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go and find him," she muttered as she carried on heading for her car.


	5. Chapter 5

Carla got to her car parked around the corner from their flat, and felt around in her leather jacket pockets for her car keys. She grabbed her bag off her shoulder and started pulling things out to search for them, but she couldn't find them. She raised her right hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, before turning quickly, heading back to the flat to find a spare key.

She unlocked the door and launched herself straight up the stairs, pushing the door open to find him lay on the sofa. She breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that he was at least home safe, before creeping up to him to look at his face. She saw a bandage covering his left eye. He had cuts and bruises down the side of his face, and she couldn't work out how bad it was below his neck because he was wearing a black t-shirt, which he must have changed into recently because it was clean.

She perched on the edge of the sofa by his legs, trying not to make the sofa cushions move too much as she did, before leaning towards his face and running a hand gently through his hair. She gently ran her fingertips down the side of his face, so lightly that he should have hardly even been able to feel it. She wanted to know what had happened to him. Why hadn't he called her? Why hadn't Steve let her know? Why wasn't Steve here?

She realised her questions may soon be answered as he began to stir. His eyelids slowly flickered open and he winced as he clearly felt pain. His eyes found Carla, sat watching him. He smiled weakly at her, and her sad eyes lit up straight away.

"Hey baby," he whispered.

"Hey," Carla whispered back, "what've you been up to then?" She said, squeezing his knee and letting her hand rest there.

Peter raised a hand to rub his temple. He winced again as he felt pain shoot through him.

"Do you need something?" Carla asked, quietly.

"I had some painkillers when I got in," he took a deep breath between sentences, "Steve brought me home. I asked him to let me get some rest before you get angry at him for leaving me." He winked at her.

"What happened then?" Carla rephrased her earlier question. She was already starting to sense that he didn't want to tell her. He hadn't answered her the first time. Surely he'd know how worried she was?

Of course he knew how worried she was, which was precisely why he didn't want to tell her. He knew that he'd have to say something... She wasn't going to let it go. If she came home like this then he'd never let it go.

He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to upset her either.

"Come here," he said, holding his arms up. She leaned on him so that her head was resting on his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, letting one hand run up and down her back gently.

"Can I tell you later?" He muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

Carla didn't respond as she let herself worry. She didn't know what to say. After a minute she lifted her head, turning it to face his, resting her chin on his chest, their faces inches apart.

He looked at her. He wasn't waiting for an answer, he just looked at her because he could. He liked how her hair fell around her face. He wasn't sure whether he'd ever liked how a woman's hair fell around her face, but he was certain that he liked how Carla's did. He liked how she ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip just before she spoke. He especially liked how, when he would look at her eyes, they would sometimes be preoccupied with watching his own lips.

"Of course you can," his thoughts were interrupted as Carla replied to his question. For a minute he'd forgotten that he'd even asked a question. He watched her eyes drop to look at his mouth, and moved a hand off her back to point at his lips.

"The doctor reckons kisses work better than painkillers," he said, innocently.

Carla's face lit up as her mouth broke into a smile.

"Is that so?" She replied, her eyebrows raised.

"Well it hasn't been proven bu-" Peter was silenced by her lips catching his. It wasn't a greeting kind of kiss either. It was a kiss like the first time he'd kissed her properly, stood in her flat just seconds away from telling her how much he loved her. He put his hand on the back of her head, pulling her in as close as possible.

She pulled away but her nose was still touching his, he ran his hand through her hair, letting it rest back on her back.

"You must've been worried," he whispered.

She didn't reply, because she didn't need to. She just lay her head back down on his chest, her facing the wall, and him gazing up at the ceiling.

He really did like it when she watched his lips.


End file.
